Welcome from the Vice President for Research

CWRU researchers are among the most distinguished in the world. We have 16 Nobel Laureates among current and former faculty and alumni, 4 members of the National Academies of Sciences, 7 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 8 members of the Institute of Medicine. We also partner with artistic and cultural institutions on a broad range of projects that make important scholarly contributions in the humanities and social sciences.

Extraordinary research requires an outstanding infrastructure. Our Office of Research & Technology Management provides support to seek out grant funding, to facilitate industrial sponsorship, and to transfer university technologies to the marketplace. This is a place for people driven to make a difference, and our office exists to help them succeed.

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Research Newsletter

July 14, 2015

National Institutes of Health – Lasker Clinical Research Scholars

The National Institutes of Health, the nation's premier agency for biomedical and behavioral research, in partnership with the Lasker Foundation, is pleased to announce the Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Program, an historic "intramural-extramural" partnership to nurture the next generation of clinical researchers. The program supports a small number of exceptional clinical researchers in the early stages of their careers to promote their development to fully independent positions. Successful candidates are designated as Lasker Clinical Research Scholars.

Lasker Scholars receive a unique combination of NIH funding for clinical research for to 10 years. In the first phase of the program, Scholars will receive appointments for 5-7 years as tenure-track investigators within the NIH Intramural Research Program with independent budgets. In the second phase, successful Scholars will receive up to 3 years of NIH support for their research at an extramural research facility; or the Scholar can be considered to remain as an investigator within the intramural program.

Lasker Scholars will have access to the NIH Clinical Center, the nation's largest hospital devoted entirely to clinical research. Through an arrangement with the Lasker Foundation, Scholars will have the opportunity to participate in selected activities, including attendance at the Lasker Breakfast and Award Luncheon, and participation in annual scientific meetings.

The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education, and not-for-profit museums, science centers and scientific/engineering research organizations. This program especially seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering, by supporting proposals for shared instrumentation that fosters the integration of research and education in research-intensive learning environments. Each MRI proposal may request support for the acquisition (Track 1) or development (Track 2) of a single research instrument for shared inter- and/or intra-organizational use; development efforts that leverage the strengths of private sector partners to build instrument development capacity at MRI submission-eligible organizations are encouraged.

To accomplish the program's goals, the MRI program assists with the acquisition or development of a shared research instrument that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. The instrument is expected to be operational for regular research use by the end of the award period. For the purposes of the MRI program, a proposal must be for either acquisition (Track 1) or development (Track 2) of a single instrument or for equipment that, when combined, serves as an integrated research instrument (in contrast to requests for multiple instruments that enable research in a common or focused research domain, which MRI does not support). The MRI program does not support the acquisition or development of a suite of instruments to outfit research laboratories/facilities or that will be used to conduct independent research activities simultaneously.

Instrument acquisition or development proposals that request funds from NSF in the range $100,000-$4 million may be accepted from any MRI-eligible organization. Proposals that request funds from NSF less than $100,000 may also be accepted from any MRI-eligible organization for the disciplines of mathematics or social, behavioral and economic sciences and from non-Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education for all NSF-supported disciplines.

Cost-sharing of precisely 30% of the total project cost is required for Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education and for non-degree-granting organizations. Non-Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education are exempt from cost-sharing and cannot include it. National Science Board policy is that voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced that proposals submitted in response to Program Solicitations in FastLane will undergo a series of automated proposal compliance validation checks to ensure they comply with requirements outlined in the Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (Chapter II.C.2. of the Grants Proposal Guide (GPG)). These checks will automatically validate a proposal for compliance against proposal sections per type of funding mechanism. For example, an error message will appear if a project description or budget are not provided in proposals submitted in response to a Program Solicitation.

Checks will be triggered when proposers select the Check Proposal,Forward to SPO, or Submit Proposal functions. Depending on the rule being checked, a warning or error message will display when a proposal is found to be non-compliant. If an error message appears, the proposal cannot be submitted until it is compliant.

Please note that these automated compliance checks will not be conducted on proposals submitted to NSF via Grants.gov.

The W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program seeks to benefit humanity by funding fundamental, high-risk research in two specific areas: 1) medical research and 2) science and engineering. Both Senior and Early Career investigators are encouraged to apply. CWRU may submit two proposals per funding cycle: one (1) in Medical Research and one (1) in Science and Engineering Research.

Applicants are encouraged to consult with their Associate Deans for Research prior to internal submission to assure they meet eligibility criteria and their projects meet stated program objectives.

Grants of up to $1 million over 3 years are awarded for projects in science and engineering research and medical research that:

Focus on basic, early stage, emerging areas of research, not on clinical or translational research, treatment trials or research for the sole purpose of drug development.

Have the potential to develop breakthrough technologies, instrumentation or methodologies.

Have few, if any, peer groups pursuing comparable or related work.

Have high level of risk due to unconventional approaches, or by challenging the prevailing paradigm.

Have the potential for transformative impact, such as the founding of a new field of research, the enabling of observations not previously possible, or the altered perception of a previously intractable problem.

Fall outside the mission of public funding agencies. Provide specifics. If you've been declined federal funding, provide the documentation stating why, if available.

Demonstrate that the W. M. Keck Foundation's support is essential to the project's success.

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